1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fuel assemblies for nuclear reactors and, more particularly, is concerned with an improved hand held tool for removing and replacing a locking tube in a removable top nozzle of a reconstitutable fuel assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In most nuclear reactors, the reactor core is comprised of a large number of elongated fuel assemblies. Conventional designs of these fuel assemblies include a plurality of fuel rods and control rod guide thimbles held in an organized array by grids spaced along the fuel assembly length and attached to the control rod guide thimbles. Top and bottom nozzles on opposite ends of the fuel assembly are secured to the guide thimbles which extend slightly above and below the ends of the fuel rods. At the top of the fuel assembly, the guide thimbles are attached in passageways provided in the adapter plate of the top nozzle. The guide thimbles may each include an upper sleeve for attachment to the top nozzle.
During operation of such fuel assembly in a nuclear reactor, a few of the fuel rods may occasionally develop cracks along their lengths resulting primarily from internal stresses, thus establishing the possibility that fission products having radioactive characteristics may seep or otherwise pass into the primary coolant of the reactor. Such products may also be released into a flooded reactor cavity during refueling operations or into the coolant circulated through pools where the spent fuel assemblies are stored. Since the fuel rods are supported by the grids in a spaced array with the guide thimbles between the top and bottom nozzles of the fuel assembly, it is difficult to detect and remove the failed fuel rods.
Until recently to gain access to these rods it was necessary to remove the affected fuel assembly from the nuclear reactor core and then break the welds securing the nozzles to the guide thimbles. In so doing, the destructive action often rendered the fuel assembly unfit for further use in the reactor because of the damage done to both the guide thimbles and the nozzle which prohibited rewelding.
In view of the high costs associated with replacing fuel assemblies, reconstitutable fuel assemblies were developed to minimize operating and maintenance expenses. The general approach to making a fuel assembly reconstitutable is to provide it with a removable top nozzle. One reconstitutable fuel assembly construction is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,168 to Shallenberger et al, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. It incorporates an attaching structure for removably mounting the top nozzle on the upper ends of the control rod guide thimbles.
The attaching structure includes a plurality of outer sockets defined in the adapter plate of the top nozzle, a plurality of inner sockets each formed on the upper end of one of the guide thimbles, and a plurality of removable locking tubes inserted in the inner sockets to maintain them in locking engagement with the outer sockets. Each outer socket is in the form of a passageway through the adapter plate which has an annular groove. Each inner socket is in the form of a hollow upper end portion of the guide thimble having an annular bulge which seats in the annular groove when the guide thimble end portion is inserted in the adapter plate passageway. A plurality of elongated axial slots are provided in the guide thimble upper end portion to permit inward elastic collapse of the slotted portion so as to allow the larger bulge diameter to be inserted within and removed from the annular circumferential groove in the passageway of the adapter plate. In such manner, the inner socket of the guide thimble is inserted into and withdrawn from locking engagement with the outer socket.
The locking tube is inserted from above the top nozzle into a locking position in the hollow upper end portion of the guide thimble forming the inner socket. When inserted in its locking position, the locking tube retains the bulge of the inner socket in its expanded locking engagement with the annular groove and prevents the inner socket from being moved to a compressed releasing position in which it could be withdrawn from the outer socket. In such manner, the locking tubes maintain the inner sockets in locking engagement with the outer sockets, and thereby the attachment of the top nozzle on the upper ends of the guide thimbles.
Furthermore, to prevent inadvertent escape due to vibration forces and the like, heretofore the locking tubes have been secured in their locking positions. In the one construction of the locking tubes disclosed in the above-cited patent, after insertion of the locking tubes into their locking positions within the inner sockets of the hollow upper end portions of the guide thimbles, a pair of bulges are formed in the upper portion of each locking tube. These bulges fit into the circumferential bulge in the upper end portion of the guide thimble and provide an interference fit therewith.
In another construction of the locking tubes disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,758 to Shallenberger et al, which is also assigned to the assignee of the present invention, several small dimples are preformed on the exterior surface of the upper end portion of the locking tube circumferentially spaced from one another and projecting from the locking tube exterior surface. The use of the preformed dimples eliminates the necessity to form bulges in the locking tube after insertion into the locking position. Also the preformed dimples allow the locking tube to be reused, whereas the bulged locking tubes were discarded after each use.
The reconstitutable fuel assembly construction briefly described above has proven to be an improvement by which domestic and foreign utilities can minimize both operating and maintenance expenses. A fixture developed for removing and replacing the top nozzle of the reconstitutable fuel assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,874 to Shallenberger et al, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention. A locking tube removal and replacement tool provided for use in conjunction with the fixture is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,998 to Shallenberger et al, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The tool used both for removal and replacement of locking tubes one at a time basically has an inner tubular member, an actuatable shaft assembly, and an outer tubular member.
The inner tubular member of the tool is attached at its upper end to a bail assembly for gripping by a user. At its lower end, the inner tubular member has an extension with an expandable and collapsible lower end in the form of a outwardly-turned annular segmented rim. The actuatable shaft assembly of the tool is mounted for axial movement within the inner tubular member and the extension thereof. The shaft assembly has an actuating knob coupled to its upper end and a conical nose disposed on its lower end. The lower conical nose extends beyond the segmented rim on the lower end of the tubular member extension.
To use the tool, the inner tubular member and the actuatable shaft assembly are inserted from above the top nozzle downwardly through one passageway of the adapter plate and the hollow interior of the locking tube and guide thimble until the segmented rim and the conical nose are disposed below the lower edge of the locking tube. Then, the knob on the shaft assembly is rotated in one direction to force insertion of the conical nose into the lower end of the tubular extension and thereby expand the segmented rim such that it will underlie and engage the lower edge of the locking tube when the inner tubular member and shaft assembly of the tool are pulled in an upward direction.
The outer tubular member of the tool is disposed about the upper end of the inner tubular member and mounted for slidable movement therealong. The outer tubular member can be manually moved in a reciprocating manner to deliver a series of forceful impacts to the bail assembly of the tool which impacts are, in turn, transmitted via the inner tubular member to the lower annular segment rim of its tubular extension. With the segmented rim expanded to underlie and engage the lower edge of the locking tube, the force of each impact will be transmitted to the lower edge of the locking tube causing displacement of the locking tube in an upward axial direction and removal of the locking tube from its locking position such that it can then be easily carried from the top nozzle by withdrawal of the inner tubular member and shaft assembly of the tool from the top nozzle adapter plate.
One major problem with the design of the above-described tool is the difficulty of initially aligning and inserting the lower end of inner tubular member and actuatable shaft assembly of the tool into the hollow interior of the locking tube. The annular segmented rim on the inner tubular member extension, by surrounding and projecting outwardly from the conical nose on the shaft assembly, provides a feature which tends to catch on the upper edge of the locking tube and obstruct insertion therein. Consequently, a need still remains for an alternative design of a tool to use to effectively and efficiently carry out removal and replacement of the locking tubes.